About a month ago, I ran out of gas in the Ramcharger.

Now this was not my fault, the fuel gauge still showed over an 1/8 of a tank, and I was literally within two blocks of the gas station.

Anywho, after getting gas and then refilling the tank, it has since had a sour gas smell????

Dang, that sucks. Run out then possibly refill with a low fuel station tank that was just refilled. Dunno, wifey used to run a mini mart and there was always problems right after filling when the tanks were low then would immediately clog the pump filters.
On another note, how you feeling?

Im feeling better, I did the run out of gas thing about a week before I went into the hospital.

The station is the same place I always use, and was a Friday night.I always fill Monday morning, Wednesday night, and Friday night. and thats been a routine for about a year.

Gas station is a very busy truck stop, so the fuel is turned around quick.

I thought it seemed weird, and just wondered if there was some way that running out could have caused the bad/old gas smell. Id doesn't seem logical but weirder things have happened.

Also the owners manual lists the Ramcharger as having a 35 gallon tank. And even after running it empty. then adding 2 gallons from a gas can, it only took 26 gallons at the pump and it was full to the inside of the fuel neck.

It has the same plastic tank as any other RC I have had has, so whats the deal here.

As I said the gauge still showed a good solid 1/8th tank, so I figured I still had at minimum 30 miles before I had to really worry.

Now 28 gallons into an empty listed 35 gallon tank.... Something just doesn't seem to add up.

Is it possible to put a truck fuel tank pickup into a Ramcharger tank? Is the truck pickup shorter than that of the Ramcharger? according to one source on eBay the truck pickup, and RC/TD pickups were the same in the late 80's.

Two lines of thought. 1) Back in my days at the dealership (mid 80s) the difference between a 26 gal tank and a 30 gal tank was determined by haw far into the tank the filler tube was sank. If the filler tube was, as an example, 6" into the tank when the fuel reached the end of the filler tube, it was full, no more fuel would go into the tank. If the filler tube was 3" into the tank, another 3" of fuel could be added, making it a "bigger" tank. Its possible the filler tube is too deep in the tank, may it have slid down deeper, or was always one of the "smaller" tanks that has never been checked against empty. A partially plugged tank vent hose will do the same thing.

2) Maybe your pickup tube inside the tank has broken off, cracked, or developed a leak a few inches off the bottom and when the level reaches that point, it sucks air instead of fuel, and will not let you use all the fuel in the tank.
Gene

Last I knew the difference in tank size was the plastic tank was the large tank, and the steel tank was the smaller tank.

Im not seeing where the length of the filler tube into the tank would regulate the tank level, the top of the filler neck is still way above tank height, so the fuel would still fill, and any air would vent out the vent.

It may be the pickup has a hole in it, or my other thought was a shorter pickup tube had been installed at some point.

There might be a hippo in your tank taking up space...

Small was metal and big was plastic. I've yet to see a small tank in any 81 up Ramcharger. Im pretty sure they were only around 18-20 gallon too. Had a Trailduster with the small Metal tank.

It holds 28 gallons when it seems to be empty, and from the owners manual it claims to be a 35 gallon tank. Jason has the manual so I cant look it up right now but a quick check at RCC confirms that.

http://www.automobile-catalog.com/auta_details1.php

34.9 Gallon Capacity for fuel, look under the Powertrain category.

So I either have short pickup, or it got bent, or its got a hole in it somewhere.

I will live with it for now, but would really like to correct it and get those extra miles of driving from the 8 or so gallons I'm storing.

Could be rusted off. Sami's su was bad in the tank we put in. I wanted to pull it to see what was rolling around inside but somebody said dont Id *$^% it up. Hmmm had to anyway along with pulling back out of the truck. It would clog the filter once a week or so. Only allowed that for a month. Sock portion of pickup was rotted away